Tocqueville Lecture Series Launches With Discussion on Global Justice After Genocide

10/10/2025

The first Tocqueville Lecture, a project supported through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, is on Friday, October 24, from 3-4:30 p.m. in Merrill Hall B01 or through Teams Webinar. Students, faculty, staff, and the public are invited to join this civic discourse that explores: Can the world ever deliver true justice after genocide, or is the pursuit itself part of the problem? 
 
Those interested can register for the event through this link.  
 
In addition, In-Service teachers can earn Professional Learning credits for attending through registering for this event on PowerSchool (PowerSchool Course #338220). 
 
This civic discourse event invites participants to wrestle with questions of global justice through three parts: 

1. Mini-Lectures: Dr. Combs and Dr. Bowers open with brief talks offering sharply different perspectives. 
2. Moderated Dialogue: A guided conversation exploring whether international justice heals or divides. 
3. Open Q&A: A chance for in-person and online audiences to join the discussion. 
 
This event features Dr. Nancy Combs (William & Mary Law School) and Dr. J.D. Bowers (Rutgers University) discussing if justice exist after genocide. Dr. Combs is an expert in human rights and international law, and Dr. Bowers, a historian and Dean of Rutgers Honors College, has studied multiple genocides. Both have worked closely with the international court system. 
 
One presenter argues that international justice is an illusion that often divides societies and traps them in the past rather than helping them heal. The other contends that abandoning post-atrocity trials would be a moral failure and that international law has never been more capable or effective. 
 
Can global courts deter future crimes, or do they merely record them? Who defines justice after mass violence—the victors, the victims, or the world? Join the conversation and decide for yourself. 
 
This event is free and open to the public. It is made possible through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. It is hosted by the Tocqueville Lecture Series on the campus of Jacksonville State University. This event is part of the Jax MIX Ethical Leadership microcredential at Jacksonville State University.